Once the decision is made to close the federal government, that means it’s closed; excepting services deemed “essential”.For days now, Congressmen have been passing legislation, in the House, to open highly visible areas of the government, such as memorials on the Mall, etc. It would be a mighty stretch to say these are essential.Here in our first district of Tennessee, the congressman representing the district wants to open the Great Smokey Mountain National Park and reimburse the state governments for picking up the tab. So, he along with others have presented legislation to that effect. If you pay back wages to federal employees and reimburse the states, acting as surrogates, what is the message of the closure? You can’t cherry-pick this government closure thing.Congressman Roe represents the immaturity we find in Congress today. It permeates! It seems, most everyone wants someone else to pay the toll.Of course, Roe can approach Nashville and North Carolina with a proposal, to act alone, as New Yorkers did with the Statue of Liberty. But, the federal government is closed.